sniff (snif)

[ Oh, could I but have had one single sup, One single snif at Charlotte's caudle-cup! T. Warton , Oxford Newsman's Verses (1767). The intensity of the pleasurable feeling given by a rose held to the nostrils rapidly diminishes; and when the sniffs have been continued for some time scarcely any scent can be perceived. H. Spencer , Prin. of Psychol., § 45. 2. Perception of smell obtained by inhaling audibly; that which is taken by sniffing: as, a sniff of fresh air. We were within sniff of Paris, it seemed. R. L. Stevens on , Inland Voyage, p. 238. quick snuffle. Mrs. Gamp. gave a sniff of uncommon significance, and said, it didn't signify. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, xxix. One who sniggers. The nephew is himself a boy, and the sniggerers tempt him to secular thoughts of marbles and string. Dickens, Uncommercial Traveller, ix.